GOING back home to Newcastle and St James’ Park is always special for me, having grown up in the city.
But last week’s trip to cover the Liverpool match at the great Cathedral on the hill was tinged with sadness.
The game was fabulous, as it swung one way and then the other.
Mo Salah looked like he had won it for Arne Slot’s table toppers with his second goal in the 83rd minute to cap a fantastic performance.
Then, in the very last minute of normal time, Fabian Schar grabbed an equaliser to end it all square at 3-3.
Few places in football match St James’ Park for atmosphere on a night like that.
Yet it comes against a backdrop of some despair.
The night before, I had met two of my oldest friends from school — one of whom is a lifelong season-ticket holder.
Talk immediately turned to football over a pint in The County on Gosforth High Street.
The absolute despair being felt by Newcastle fans hit me during the conversation.
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You see, it was not that long ago that the miserable years under Mike Ashley finally came to an end.
There was obvious controversy over the Saudi takeover but it offered Newcastle fans hope, having seen what similar investment from the Middle East had done at a club like Manchester City.
From perennial punchline to headline, City had torn themselves from Manchester United’s shadow and shone bright at the summit of English football.
Now it was Newcastle’s turn as the Saudis moved in just over three years ago.
Under bright young coach Eddie Howe, the club finished its first full season under Saudi ownership in fourth and were runners-up in the Carabao Cup to Manchester United.
I remember speaking to Amanda Staveley, who helped drive through the takeover, not long after that disappointment at Wembley.
She was not down about it but saw it as the first step towards something much bigger.
Few places in football match St James’ Park for atmosphere on a night like that. Yet it comes against a backdrop of some despair.
Neil Custis
Yet a year on and a cruel reality began to hit home and still does.
That the hope of smashing back through that glass ceiling, as they had done in the nineties under Sir John Hall, was going to be a short-lived dream.
The ridiculous financial constraints placed on clubs, which means the game is played out as much in boardrooms and before lawyers as on the pitches, is really ruining the game.
Plenty of clubs have fallen foul when, in many cases, they are only trying to further their prospects with generous benefactors’ cash.
How can the Glazers be allowed to do what they have done to Manchester United and get away scot free, while City wait to hear the outcome of their trial over 115 charges for alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules.
Under Sheikh Mansour’s ownership a club has been raised up, an area revived, the country’s best training ground has emerged from rubble.
And that club has given us some of the greatest football we have ever seen.
They also gave every other club the hope that one day it could be them.
Newcastle had that hope and how briefly it has flickered and died is truly sad. There is a cartel who always wanted it their own way. It was nothing to do with protecting clubs from going skint.
How are Newcastle or City ever going to go skint?
Yet isn’t it ironic that one of the old order in Manchester United, who wanted the status quo of clubs that attracted the biggest crowds and sponsorship deals to win the biggest prizes, are also one of those suffering as well.
THE Sports Personality of the Year awards are here again with less and less interest in it by the year.
Part of the problem is that the BBC monopoly on a number of sports is long since over, and the annual package of highlights that was genuinely something to look forward to no longer has a uniqueness about it.
However, there remain a number of very worthy names up for the award and my choice is not in any way meant to disrespect any of them.
But Luke Littler, 17, is there and for me no sportsman has had a greater impact on his chosen profession in the last 12 months.
What?! I hear you cry. But think about it.
Kids are taking up darts because of him.He’s convinced every teenager not interested in more traditional sports that there is a route into the headlines elsewhere.
What Barry Hearn has done to elevate the sport is remarkable but the emergence of Littler has taken it to another level.
Darts boards used to be just found in pubs and clubs around the country.
In my daughter’s student house in Leeds one of the lads who lives there is called Presley.
He has a brand new one taking pride of place in the living room as he hones his skills for the university darts team while his housemates duck and try to watch TV.
A university darts team? Have you ever heard anything like it?
THE new Netflix series about the life of Ayrton Senna should be well worth a watch.
Can’t imagine the drama can get close to the incredible documentary film in 2010 which had a tear running down my face.
But early clips suggest it captures the drama of how the brilliant Formula One drivers rise from humble racing beginnings to the very top.
During the early 80s Senna lived in a bungalow in Eaton, near Norwich, so he could race at the famous Snetterton circuit — where we see the Brazilian mastering his craft.
However, those who live in that area of Norfolk are a little curious as to where the snowcapped mountains in the background have exactly risen from.
